【推荐1】During my second year at the city college, I was told that the education department was offering a ‘free” course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I ________ the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn’t want to save a few dollars? More than that, I’d always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t ________ enough about free credits, news about our instructor was appealing enough to me. He was an international grand master, which meant I would be learning from one of the game’s ________. I could hardly wait to ________ him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this ________ was no game for him; he meant business. In his introduction, he made it clear that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to ________ the class among other requirements, we had to write a paper on how we plan to ________ what we would learn in class to our future professions and, ________, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that ________ and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the ________.

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I’m still putting to use what he ________ me: “The absolute most important ________ that you learn when you play chess is how to make good ________. On every single move you have to ________ a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and evaluate the best move from among all your options.” These words still ring true today in my ________ as a journalist.

【推荐2】I used to hate being called upon in class mainly because I didn ’t like attention drawn to myself. And unless otherwise assigned(指定) a seat by the teacher, I always ________ to sit at the back of the classroom.

All this ________ after I joined a sports team. It began when a teacher suggested I try out for the basketball team. At first I thought it was a crazy ________ because I didn ’t have a good sense of balance, nor did I have the ________ to keep pace with the others on the team and they would tease me. But for the teacher who kept insisting on my “________ for it”, I wouldn ’t have decided to give it a try.

Getting up the courage to go to the tryouts was only the ________ of it! When I first started ________ the practice sessions, I didn ’t even know the rules of the game, much less what I was doing. Sometimes I ’d get ________ and take a shot at the wrong direction-which made me feel really stupid. ________, I wasn ’t the only one “new” at the game, so I decided to ________ on learning the game, do my best at each practice session, and not to be too hard on myself for the things I didn ’t know “just yet”.

practiced and practiced. Soon I knew the ________ and the “moves”. Being part of a team was fun and motivating. Very soon the competitive ________ in me was winning over my lack of confidence. With time, I learned how to play and make friends in the process—friends who respected my efforts to work hard and be a team player. I never had so much fun!

With my ________ self-confidence comes more praise from teachers and classmates. I have gone from ________ in the back of the classroom and not wanting to call attention to myself, to raising my hand-even when I sometimes wasn ’t 100 percent ________ I had the right answer. Now I have more self-confidence in myself.

【推荐3】Follow Every Rainbow

Shirley Allen loved to sing and play the piano. She studied music in college and her _________was to become a concert pianist or blues singer.

Everything _________when she was 20 years old. She became sick and she almost died. Doctors gave her medicine to help her get well, but the medicine _________her to become totally deaf. She could no longer hear the music which she had always _________.

Shirley certainly loved playing the piano, but she did decide to change _________. She transferred to Gallaudet University and studied English. In 1964,Shirley graduated from Gallaudet and looked for a _________. She wanted to be _________and work full-time.

For three years, Shirley worked as a clerk in Washington DC. _________, in 1967 she was asked to work at Gallaudet University as a dorm supervisor (宿舍监管员). She also taught English. Somehow she found time to _________school at Howard University in Washington, DC. In 1972, Shirley received her MA degree.

Always __________a new challenge, in 1973 Shirley became a professor at National Technical Institute for the Deaf(NTID), which __________deaf and hard-of-hearing students technical and professional training.

This __________woman became the first black deaf female in the world to receive her PhD. She made   history   in 1992, __________she received the highest degree in education from the University of Rochester in New York.

Dr Shirley Jeanne Allen has travelled many roads and __________many rainbows searching for her dream. With courage and __________, she never gave up.

【推荐2】Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s nest contained four____eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked (使震动) the mountain____one of the eggs to roll down the mountain,____a chicken farm, which was in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must____and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen____to hatch (孵) and raise the large egg.

One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.____, however, the eagle was raised to be a(n)____. Soon, the eagle believed he was____more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family,____his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and___a group of eagles soaring (高飞) in the skies. “Oh,” the eagle____, “I wish I could soar like those birds.” The chickens shouted with____, “You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar.”

The eagle____staring at his real family up above,___that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his____be known, he was told it couldn’t be done. That is____the eagle learned to believe. Slowly, the eagle____dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken._____, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle____.

You become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream to become an eagle,___your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

【推荐3】Many years ago I had a lovely pet dog whom we called Chiku. He was always sensitive to ________. As soon as he heard a little noise, he would start barking. He________playing with his ball and we had trained him to do some ball tricks. When we________the ball, he would rush to bring it back.

He was always very playful, but ________one day in April he did not ________to our call and seemed unwilling to move________we tried to play with him.

He ate little food and seemed sleepy and________most of the time. Seeing his________ , my mom suggested taking him to a vet. We did so and the vet guessed that he had a fever and ________us to do blood tests.

Everything ________to be normal, but he was not himself. On our second visit, the vet could________ a lump (肿块) under the stomach. After a series of tests, it was________as cancer of the stomach. The vet said that dog cancer is________to human cancer and the animal also suffers a lot like humans.

After taking medicine, he did not show any________of healing. The vet had no treatment for him as the cancer had started ________. Seeing our cheerful dog suffer was a________to us. He was so obedient that he would run out for toilet when he was well. ________, a stage had come when it was very________for him to move. The fine morning when we went to his room, he was lying there motionless (不动的).

We thanked God that he ________peacefully without much suffering. We had tried to give him the best comfort and ________during his last days.